Finding Tristen
by QuillandQuiver
Summary: Oliver returns home just as he did in the pilot episode, but someone has been tailing him since he arrived at the club for his welcome home party. This is the Oliver Queen perspective on, "Finding Oliver Queen," in which Oliver meets a vampire that can't decide if she wants to kill him or kiss him. It's a parallel story.
1. Chapter 1

I don't have enough time. It's been three days. I can't waste any more time. But I have to keep up the pretenses, which means going to Tommy's insistent welcome home party. At least I was able to talk him into a venue that would allow me access to Adam Hunt.

Riesa announced that my car had pulled around to the front of the house. I missed the sound of her voice. I smiled when I reached her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you Reisa." I put my hand softly on her shoulder.

"You are very welcome Mr. Queen. Don't get into too much trouble with Mr. Merlyn." She smiled sweetly.

"Promise." I laughed a little.

I walked out the front door unbuttoning my sports coat. How would I get rid of Mr. Diggle tonight? I smiled and opened the back door on the car. Before I could climb in, I paused when I saw, none other than, John Diggle already sitting in the backseat.

"Put on your seatbelt, sir." He smiled. "I wouldn't want you to miss your party."

This complicates things a bit. I couldn't help but crack a small smile though as I settled in next to him and closed the door. Maybe I had been underestimating Mr. Diggle up to this point.

Jesus. I paused briefly at the top of the stairs taking in the colossal mess at the bottom. I started down the stairs pulling my cell phone from my pocket and taking note of the time. Adam Hunt has only 53 minutes before I have to make good on my promise to end him. Part of me wanted both. I wanted him to return the money and right the wrong, but for some reason, I really wanted to kill him too. I shook the thought. Get your head right.

Tommy met me before I reached the last few steps. The music stopped and he slung an arm around my shoulders. You're on Ollie.

"Hey everybody!" Tommy shouted. "Man of the hour!" The club patrons erupted in cheers as they raised their glasses.

I stepped down into the pit of the club into a sea of lifelike Barbie dolls. "Hey ladies, please," Tommy started, "Give this man a proper homecoming!"

I hopped on the nearest table top to get started on my performance for the evening. "Thank you very much everybody!" Tommy handed a shot up to me. I took it and threw it back. Nothing compared to Russian vodka. "I missed Tequila!" Cheers rang out and I stepped down. Tommy took me over to the bar.

My take of the surroundings was short lived when a dolled up blonde came to stand in front of me at the bar. "Hi there." She smiled playfully.

"Not interested." I kept a smile plastered to my face and she bowed away gracefully. Honestly, women are the absolute last thing on my mind right now. I know, I said it and I mean it.

Tommy made some absent cracks about my mom appointed babysitter, Diggle. I bantered with him for show. I did wonder momentarily, how would I shake him tonight? I'm sure I'll improvise something.

Tommy continued, "By my rough estimate, you have not had sex in 1,839 days. As your wing man, I highly recommend, Carmen Golden." He spun me around, our backs to the bar now to look at three average girls dancing drunkenly on a table towards the middle of the club floor.

I'll bite, "Which one is she?"

"The one that looks like the chick from Twilight." He answered.

"What's Twilight?" I asked confused.

"You're so better off now knowing." He answered.

My gaze drifted to the middle of the club crowd, where I saw my darling baby sister. Who the hell would let her in here? I watched for a moment, taking in the buy. Very quickly, sneakily and nearly professional like, she bought drugs and tucked them away without missing a beat.

"Back in a minute." I walked away from Tommy without waiting for a response. I slipped my arm around her back, spun her and started to walk her towards the door.

"Ollie! Hey!" She smiled beamingly. "This party is sick!"

"Who let you in here?" I stopped and looked down at her.

Her smile never faded, "I believe it was somebody who said, right this way Ms. Queen."

"You shouldn't be here." I barked, inconvenienced by her boldness.

Her smiled dropped away and was replaced with the look of hostility, "Ollie, I'm not twelve anymore."

"No, you're seventeen." I stated matter-of-factly.

"Ollie, I love you, but you can't come back here and judge me…especially for being, just like you." She looked me up and down.

"I know that it couldn't have been easy for you when I was, away…"

"Away," she interrupted with a sarcastic laugh, "No," her face went serious. "You died. My brother and my father, died." I looked down away from her piercing, angry eyes, trying to find the words. In that instant, I slipped my hand into her bag and fished out the drugs she had just bought. "I went to your funerals," she continued.

"I know." I said through gritted teeth and tight jaw.

"No you don't!" She interrupted again. "Mom had Walter, and I had no one. You guys all act like it's cool. Let's forget about the last five years…. Well, I can't. For me, it's kind of permanently in there. So I'm sorry, if I turned out some major disappointment, but this….me? This is the best I could do with what I had to work with." I closed my eyes so I could try to forget the pain in her eyes and the shake in her voice. She turned back to her friends and left before I could even protest.

I made it to the nearest trashcan and ditched the drugs. I didn't know until I looked up that I had been watched. Mr. Diggle. I don't have time for this, but I can feel his eyes following me as I make my way through the club.

"Oh!" When I turned to leave so quickly, I ran directly into another person. When she looked up, the world melted away. Laurel. "You're here?" I pushed my eyebrows together in confusion. I never thought she would actually come. What reason could she possible have?

"Tommy." She said. "He made the point that we have too many years between us, to leave things the way we left them." Her eyes locked onto mine, and never left. "Is there some place quieter that we could go?" She asked.

I wanted to. I wanted to whisk her away into the other room and hear everything she could possibly have to say. I looked down at my phone. 10:00pm. Adam Hunt…

Time. I don't have it. "Maybe next time." I didn't stick around to see the disappointment on her face. I couldn't afford anymore distractions. I pushed past her and continued through the club towards the kitchen. I pushed the swinging doors open and started through the kitchen to reach the planned exit at the end of the back corridor.

I stepped out into the hallway. Someone, someone is following me. I changed the weight fluctuation in my steps allowing my feet to hit the ground more audibly, intently. If this person is following me, there has to be a reason. I don't want them to think that I'm sneaking. I'll fake drunk until I find out who it is. There's something. A small hint of lavender makes its way to my nose. As I step out into the next hallway opening, my back is talked at making me pause.

"Something I can help you with sir?" The heavy, unmistakable voice of John Diggle. Now, I'm getting angry. I turned to face him.

From the corner of my eye, I caught the faint figure of a woman standing near the doorway leading from the kitchen into the corridor.

"I just want a second to myself." I said to John. I think I really meant it. After putting on a façade all night, I was getting tired and I knew that I needed every bit of my mind and body to handle Adam Hunt.

"I would believe you, Mr. Queen, if you weren't so full of crap." He answered with an arrogant smile. This is going to be fun. "The party is this way." He gestured towards the side door that leads back to the club floor and I obeyed.

I reached for the door handle and shook it with a light grip. "It's locked." I turned to face him. When he reached for the handle, I threw my left arm under his, wrapped it around the back of his head and pulled him downward applying pressure. When I looked up towards the corridor, I finally saw her.

Her long dark blonde hair had hints of white laced throughout the wavy layers and her eyes were the iciest shade of gray. There was a stillness about her as she cocked her head to the side studying me. Her slender, but muscular frame left little to the imagination barely hidden by skin tight jeans with strategically placed rips up and down her thighs. The black leather jacket she wore, clung to her body tightly and I could make out an amazing shade of tanned skin that peeked out from under the plunging neck line of her barely there shirt.

I applied the slightest increase in pressure to Mr. Diggle's neck and felt him slink down to the ground at my feet as I released and he went limp. I stood up straight and smoothed my jacket down, never taking my eyes off of the exquisite creature staring back at me. "Can I help you?" I finally asked.

"How interesting." She swallowed hard, fighting something inside herself as she looked me up and down.

Almost simultaneously, a baker's pan hit the floor further down the corridor and she was gone. I sighed heavily. Are there any more distractions that can appear tonight?

I traveled down the side hallway and into the stairwell as I changed my clothes. As I neared the top floor I secured my quiver on my back and drew my bow. When I burst out onto the roof, I let the first arrow loose, securing my zip line to the building across the street. I slipped through an air vent in the roof, slithered through the crawl space in the ceiling and dropped down into the main elevator that ran through the center of the building. I stabbed an arrow through the electric lines in the wall of the elevator making sure that I only disrupted the main power and not the auxiliary or the elevator would fall 26 floors with me in it. The elevator surged momentarily and continued down to the 25th floor. I crouched down in the floor of the elevator and drew an arrow back in my bow. As soon as the doors started to open, I released it into the dark room. The next few moments were filled with a rush of adrenaline and instinct as I made my way through the room, taking down Adam Hunt's muscle without hesitation.

When I came face to face with Adam Hunt, I released an arrow into the wall behind him.

"You missed." He hissed.

"Really?" I asked. I was blindsided with a fist across my face.

He caught me so off guard that he was able to strip my bow from my hands as he hit me again. I did my best to block what was coming, but he landed multiple blows to my head and stomach. I had to change it up. I used my body weight to sling him through the air. I landed in the middle of a glass coffee table that shattered into a million pieces, but I was able to get a hold of him like I wanted. He rolled out and the next few blows were exchanged evenly. He pulled a knife and I deflected him into a wall where he crashed through a vase and then down. The window to my far left exploded inward at the same time the vase shattered. I knew someone else was here, but I couldn't stop. This hired muscle was good. Not good enough, but good nonetheless. In four blocks I had him down on his knees where I landed a devastating blow to his face. He went down onto his stomach. I saw him grab the gun. I couldn't deflect the bullets at the rate they were going to come. I lunged towards the desk at the far end of the room for cover as the bullets began to fly. It felt like a sledge hammer struck me in the chest when the first one hit me. I hit the floor with a thud. I remember hearing the shooting stop. Why would he stop shooting? Amateur. You never stop shooting until you're sure the target is eliminated. I looked under the legs of the desk, back towards the man. He was still standing, frozen. I could see his feet barely moving in place as if he were trying to keep his balance. The next feet that hit the floor were smaller and just behind him. Black combat boots, half way untied. I could see that the owner was wearing tight jeans with rips leading up each leg. The man fell and in an instant the room was flooded with police. I grabbed my bow and zipped back to the roof top across the street.

Into the stairwell, I changed my clothes quickly feeling the dull ache of the place where the bullet struck my chest in the Kevlar. Through the kitchen corridor and… I could still smell her. The faint scent of lavender actually helped me relax just a little bit before I stepped back out onto the club floor, just behind Tommy, but out of his view. The police scattered about the building. Detective Lance approached Tommy.

"Detective, this is a private party." I shoved my hands in my pocket and stepped in next to Tommy.

"Yeah. Well, there was an incident at Adam Hunt's building tonight. Would you know anything about that?" He stared me down, hatred filling the air between us. The truth is, I don't blame him.

I shook my head, "Who's Adam Hunt?"

"A millionaire bottom feeder and I'm kind of surprised you aren't friends." He said. His intended insult was well heard.

"I've been out of town for… a while." I replied.

"Well, he just got attacked by the guy with the hood." He said. "The guy that saved your ass the other day."

"The hood guy?" I asked with a laugh. "When you find him… I'm going to offer a reward." I turned to the club crowd and shouted. "Hey everybody! Two million dollars to anybody that can find a nut bar in a green hood!" The crowd cheered and I turned back to face down Detective Lance.

He stepped dangerously close. "Did you even try to save her?" He demanded. "Did you even try to save my daughter?" He pressed his chest to mine, making me step back, but I kept my expression straight.

The Captain stepped in between us. "Sara wouldn't have wanted this. Let's go." He backed Lance away. "It's alright."

I looked down and away. The momentary sting of the guilt that came with the memory of Sara does get the best of me from time to time. I walked around Tommy and back to the table top, where I stepped up to get the crowd back.

"It's way too quiet in here! This is a party!" I shouted into the hushed club. Once again, cheers broke out and the music began thumping again.

I stepped down off the table and into Tommy, meeting him face to face.

"It's some coincidence," he started, "I mean, you asking to have your party here and Hunt getting robbed right next door and by the same guy who rescued us at the warehouse." He brought a martini glass to his lips.

I leaned closer to him, "If I were you Tommy, I'd just be glad you're alive." He looked up to stare into my eyes.

A look of fear overtook his face, "What happened to you on that island?"

I didn't blink, "A lot." I turned my back to him and left the club for the final time that night.

It didn't take me long to get across town to my dad's old factory. I sat down at my computer in the makeshift, basement lair and watched as the money from Adam Hunt's accounts was returned to the people he screwed out of it. He thought I missed, but I didn't. I wanted to kill him, but the fate he would suffer now is much worse than death. The arrow that pierced the wall in his office, bugged the room so that I could retrieve his account information without him knowing. I took out my father's book and struck a line through Adam Hunt's name. It won't be long now.

I leaned back in my chair, thinking about my father. "Right my wrongs." He said. I didn't know how I would do that, but I was going to try. His sacrifice would not be in vain. I sighed heavily, but I forced the air to stop before I could exhale it completely. Lavender.

"Who are you?" I asked without moving my body even an inch.

"Not your type." The silvery voice of an angel said evenly.

"Are you following me?" I asked as I searched the surfaces in front of me for a reflection of her.

"Not on purpose." She answered. I could hear her voice moving closer to me, but I couldn't hear her footsteps. They were so light, so dainty, that I wouldn't have known she was there at all if I hadn't smelled her.

"I'm going to turn around now." I said, putting my hands behind my head.

"No!" She hissed and I froze only turned half way in the computer chair I was sitting in.

"You were there." I said. "Why?"

"It's kind of a long story." She answered. "But let's call it, the right place at the right time."

"I call it interference." I said flatly.

"He shot you." She whispered sounding confused. "How are you alive?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets." I turned all the way around to face her before she could protest. She was closer than I thought. I could see traces of blood spatter on her chest where that barely there shirt opened into the plunging neckline. "Are you hurt?" I asked pushing my eyebrows together. I didn't understand where my concern was coming from. She's in my space, my secret space and I'm concerned about her being hurt? Get it together Oliver.

"Hardly." She smiled playfully. "Are you?" She cocked her head to the side and looked down at my chest.

"No." I stared into her eyes. I have never seen eyes that color before.

She took a step closer and I could see her draw a deep breath in through her nose. "Why are you running through dark buildings in a green hood?"

"Why are you interfering with me running through dark buildings in a green hood?" She knew my secret. I needed to see how much more she knew. My mind was racing. I was afraid that I was going to have to kill her.

"I don't know." She shook her head and backed up a few steps. "Who are you?"

"Oliver Queen." I answered. "Now, who are you?"

"Tristen."

"Tristen. No last name?" I asked, pressing her further. I had made the calculations in my head already. It would take me 1.2 seconds to be out of this chair and on top of her with the blade of my boot hidden knife at her throat.

"Please don't." She shifted her intent stare from my eyes to my left boot that held my knife and back up to my eyes as she took another step back, lessening my chances of being able to apprehend her.

I swallowed hard. "Okay." I relaxed in my chair. What in the hell is going on here? "Maybe we can reach an agreement. You want to know more about me and I want to know more about you. Right?"

"Maybe." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "What the pitch?"

"If you get rid of the knife in your belt," I glanced down at her waist. "I'll get rid of the knife in my boot."

"What about the one under the arm of your chair?" She smiled and raised an eyebrow arrogantly.

"Okay." I nodded.

"How do I know that you'll keep your word?" She pressed her lips together and for the first time I sensed a vulnerability. She wanted to trust me. I had to figure out why.

"Scouts honor." I held up the sign.

She narrowed her eyes again, studying me before she slipped a hand under her jacket and retrieved the knife in her belt so fast, I was taken off guard enough to instinctively slide the one out from under the arm of my chair and sheath it in my palm, ready to throw it. I felt my eyes widen as she opened her hand letting it clink to the floor. I opened my hand in response and let mine fall too. She drew in a strained breath before speaking.

"The other one?" Her eyes never left mine.

I slid my hand down my leg bending over slightly, but never losing eye contact. I retrieved the blade and dropped it like I had the other one.

"Why would you do that?" She creased her forehead and pushed her eyebrows together in anger.

"Do what?" I asked confused.

"Give up your only weapons so easily…" She continued to stare at me in anger.

I tried to understand the sudden shift in mood. "Why would you?"

"You don't know me. You don't know what I'm capable of." She took a few steps to her right and stopped. "Why would you let your guard down so quickly?"

"I never let my guard down." I said sternly. "If you take one more step, I'm going to assume you're attempting to flank me, and I'm going to be forced to act."

"No weapons." She smiled arrogantly.

"No weapons." I nodded.

She took another step to the right and stopped. Waiting.

I spun in my chair and shoved my feet up against the desk launching me backwards towards her. I braced my weight on the arms of the chair and threw myself out of it. When my feet hit the floor, I was completely shocked not to find her underneath me. I looked up to see her standing on the other side of the desk smiling. There's no way that she was able to move out of the way fast enough to avoid me.

"Too slow." She stood up straight out of an attack position and walked to the corner of the desk.

I didn't answer. I continued to stare her down as I stood up straight as well. How is she so fast?

"Who are you?" I yelled this time, hoping to get across how pissed off I was becoming.

"I told you my name already." Her eyes narrowed.

"Right." I replied. "Tristen. But that doesn't tell me what I need to know."

"What is it that you think you need to know about me Oliver?" She tilted her head slightly. Jesus, I love the way she says my name.

"Why are you here?" I demanded. "First, you were at the club tonight." I took a step to the left and she countered immediately. I remember how the lighting in the kitchen corridor bounced off her gray eyes making them shine, brighter than they are now in the dim lighting of my father's factory basement. "Then," I continued, "you followed me into Adam Hunt's building. I saw you there." Well, not really her, but those amazing legs. I shook the thoughts. "You did something to the man that shot me." I stepped again and she countered again. I could almost reach it. Not yet. "Then, you followed me back here. For what?" I demanded loudly and for the first time since I met her, I saw…fear. "Is this a game?" I raised my voice again feeling my throat burn at the anger I was trying to portray. Her eyes widened slightly. I have to do it now. "This is not my idea of a good time!" I grabbed my bow and fired an arrow in her direction. She never saw it coming.

I watched the arrow slice through her skin and into her shoulder in the joint just below her clavicle. She didn't even have time to look at it before she dropped to the floor, first on her knees, then lying down on her back. I ran to her and pressed my knee to her arm so I could hold it down enough to pull the arrow out. It didn't take much force to pull it back through the wound it created. Bright red blood spilled out of her arm and onto the concrete floor. It was only flesh, she would be fine when she woke.

"Goodnight." I said softly, smiling playfully. I had bested her. I won the game. It was a fun game.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I sat at the table in the basement for the next 16 hours trying to occupy myself until she woke up. If, she woke up. I'm beginning to think the tranquilizer in the arrow was too much for someone of her height and body weight. I searched her thoroughly in the first few minutes that she was out. Aside from a few hundred in her jacket pocket and a weirdly simple tattoo on her right side at her ribcage, there was nothing. I didn't know any more now, than I did before I shot her. She needs to wake up.

I grabbed a capsule of smelling salts, broke it open and stuck it under her nose. She inhaled deeply and I immediately moved to the outside of the circle I gauged to be her kick radius. She didn't wake up.

I sighed heavily. Patience is not my strong suit.

I pulled my father's book from the wooden box and opened it to show all the names written in his familiar handwriting. I was losing time, but I have to find out who she is and what she knows before I have to kill her.

The faint sound of the cuffs clanging against the steel beam I'd shackled her to had my head jerking in her direction. Now, I would get some answers.

"Good morning." I couldn't help but smile. She was going to be pissed off and I was wholly prepared for another round.

Her head snapped towards me at the sound of my voice and if looks could kill, she would have dropped me where I stood. "What have you done?" She screeched angrily.

"What I had to." I bent down, making sure that I was far outside her radius, but close enough so that I could see every detail of her flawlessly beautiful face.

"You've made a very big mistake." She narrowed her eyes at me, fixated and swallowed hard.

"I think it's you who has made the mistake." I gave her another look over, making sure there was no way she could get loose before I pissed her off even more. "Why are you following me?"

She smiled. She has an amazing smile. She looked up at her hands and jingled the cuffs a little before she looked back at me with a sultry stare, "Gee Casanova, the cuffs usually don't come out until the second date."

Cute. I rolled my eyes and stood up so that I could look down at her as I folded my arms across my chest. I guess I could shoot her again. "I think maybe you need another nap and when you wake up, you'll be a little more forthcoming with useful information." I turned to get my bow.

"No!" She yelped and the desperate sound had my head jerking back towards her.

That sound ripped through me and I nearly ran to her and unlocked the cuffs. How does she have this effect on me?

"No." She said, calmer this time. "I don't need another…" She paused. "nap." That word seemed foreign to her. "How long was I out anyway?" She asked as she sat up with her back against the beam now and her hands above her head and she looked up at me through long dark lashes that kissed her cheeks each time she blinked.

"16 hours." I said. "Give or take." I didn't want her to think I had been counting. I stepped back and sat on a low rolling stool, where I had spent at least 9 of the 16 hours, so I could stare at her while she was sleeping. But, I wasn't counting. "Ready to talk?"

"Sure." She smiled brightly and I braced myself for whatever unpredictable mess that was going to fly out of her mouth. "My name is Tristen." She annunciated each syllable and never stopped smiling, "I like long walks on the beach, lavender bubble baths and I spend all my extra time scrapbooking. It's my passion." And there it was. Scrapbooking, really?

I couldn't help but smile and laugh just a little, "At least you're telling the truth about the bubble baths." I could smell it even now. The crisp, tantalizing smell of lavender as it radiated off of her body in waves that made me want to revel in that amazing, pure smell that relaxed me from head to toe. I stood up and walked back to my computer.

"How do you know?" She asked, almost sweetly.

"I can smell it. Lavender." I pulled up surveillance on my next target as I talked to her. I had to get my head back in the game. She wasn't going to tell me anything without a fight and I wasn't sure if I was mad enough to fight her again, yet. I would find a way to make her talk, it wouldn't be easy, but I would find a way.

The cuffs jingled again and I heard her shuffling around. I really hope that the cuffs and the beam would hold her.

When I looked back at her, I could see blood seeping from the wounds on her wrists made from the sharp edges of the steel cuffs. "What are you doing?" If she dies from blood loss, I'll never get the answers I need. I walked over to her, but stayed outside the radius I had measured earlier. I looked down at her wrists and the blood that flowed almost freely. It almost hurt me to see her suffering like this. It hurt me to know that she was hurting. She looked up at me, studying my face and I knew then that I had been showing my concern. I might as well have turned over on my back and showed her my belly.

"I'd help you, but…" I killed my sympathetic look as I spoke to her this time.

"But what?" She asked coyly.

"I don't trust you." I returned her coy smile and walked away.

"The feeling is mutual!" She spat back at me. "You're a liar."

"Really?" Who the hell does she think she is? "How's that? You don't even know me."

"You said no weapons." She replied. "Yet, here I am," She jerked hard at the cuffs, clanging them against the steel beam with such ridiculous force I turned my head slightly to look at her, "cuffed to this thing because you couldn't play fair." I heard and saw the blood splatter on the floor again. Damn woman.

"You'd better cut it out before you make yourself pass out." I think her words bit me a little. I wonder if I could have beat her had I not shot her with a tranquilizer laced arrow. She is insanely fast. I kept my face serious as to not let on that I was actually concerned that she really was about to lose consciousness again, if she didn't quit being a stubborn ass.

She smiled arrogantly and let out a small laugh before she sucked in a hard breath and her eyes rolled back. She fell back against the beam, fighting it. I shook my head. Her knees went and she came down on them hard before falling back onto the floor.

"Told you." I couldn't help let a small smile pull my lips away from my teeth. At least it would be quiet again for a while, before I woke her up to try again. This time, I wouldn't be so nice.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It didn't take me long to get things more comfortable in the basement. For me, not for her. She was out and I was going to take advantage. I was able to get a satellite laptop, a secondary monitor, a few more standing lights and another table to house my arrows. This was the slowest process so far and I hadn't figured out how to increase production yet. I had to make them by hand and it took time, patience and attention. All of which I have very little.

I was becoming more accustomed to the suit and every time I upgraded it, I found more places to hide things; Useful things like, exploding arrow heads, tracking darts, and tranquilizer arrows. Every time I put the gear on, it was less and less foreign, it was becoming a part of me, of who I am now, not who I used to be.

Marcus Redman. I'm coming for you.

By the time I finally got home, the sun was starting to come up and I was getting dressed in my other costume. Suit and tie suited Oliver Queen's character just fine. I had to make sure that I added in my own flair of idiocy, arrogance, judgement, and of course that giant chip I pretended to carry around on my shoulder. I'm beginning to feel like it takes more energy to be Oliver Queen than it does to be The Hood.

I could hear the television on in the family room and I knew that's where I would find them all. As I rounded the corner I felt a twinge of relief to see my mother sitting in the leather wing-backed chair facing the TV. At least I knew she was here and safe from whatever might be coming to hurt us.

I stopped in front of the TV to listen to the last bit of the news report on Marcus Redman. He had returned the money to the pensioners as directed. Good, that means that he's afraid.

"Sources say that Redman was coerced by the vigilante…"

I felt a little sick when they plastered a police sketch of the "Hooded Vigilante," on the screen. With that sketch artist's lack of talent, I would never be found out though.

"This guy gets more air time than the Kardashians. Right?" I finally said loudly.

Thea stared at me with her eyebrows pushed together; I honestly couldn't tell if she was confused or still pissed off that I confiscated her drugs from my welcome home party. "Five years on an island and you still know who they are."

"I've been catching up." I smiled, feeling a little proud of myself. "It's nice to see how much our culture has improved while I was away." I turned to face mom and Walter.

"This city used to be different." Mom looked up at me briefly and then back to the envelope in her hands where she had been going through the day's mail. "People used to feel safe."

"Awww, what's the matter mom?" Thea faked concern and I was surprised how much she sounded like a psychotic serial killer, "Are you afraid we're going to be next?" Mom flat out ignored her. So easily, like it was the norm.

Thea makes a crappy comment, goes out all night drinking, does a few lines with her school buddies on her vanity (yes, I saw that too), and mom just ignores her? Maybe they're more screwed up than I am.

As mom stood to leave, Walter addressed me, "Do you have any questions about today Oliver?" He started buttoning his suit. "It's a simple, proof-of-life declaration. You just read out a brief, prepared statement to the judge and then your death-in-absentia judgement will be voided."

"It's fine Walter," I started, "I've been in a courtroom before." I knew the ropes.

I jerked my head towards the sound of Tommy's voice coming up from behind me, "Four times, by my estimate." He does a lot of estimating when it comes to me. "You know, there was the DUI, the assault on that paparazzi douchebag, stealing that taxi which was just awesome, by the way." He came to stand next to me. "And who could forget," He turned to mom and Walter with a slight laugh, "peeing on the cop?"

"I wish everyone would." Mom said sternly as Walter slung a jacket around her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes and laid a hand on his shoulder, "I'd hang, but we're headed to court." I faked a cordial smile. Do you think anyone would notice if I tranquilized him right here and now?

"I know that's why I'm here. My best friend is getting legally resurrected. I wouldn't miss this for the world." At least he's happy that I'm back.

I shoved my hands in my pants pockets and turned to face Thea. "What about you?"

Her arms were still folded across her chest and she was still scowling at me, "Uh, I think the first four times with you in court was enough for me." She walked out of the room past me.

"Fair enough." I replied flatly.

John Diggle stepped into the room at my right, "Mrs. Queen? The car is ready." He smiled professionally and nodded in my direction quickly.

I bit back on my lips as they all left the room past me. I've only been back a few days and it feels like everyone is mad at me already. Welcome home Ollie.

I wasn't anticipating such a circus when we reached the courthouse. Everyone wanted a piece of my story. I stepped out of the car with John right behind me and into a sea of yelling reporters, flashing cameras and microphones being thrust in my face. I had to fight the instinct in me that wanted to lay them out one by one as I climbed the courthouse stairs.

I only briefly remember what I said to the judge, "There was a storm. The boat went down. I was the only survivor." That last part stung. The sight of Sara being dragged down into the water, and my father, what my father did, was burned into my memory like a wound that would never heal. "My father didn't make it. I almost died. I thought that I had because I had spent so many days on that life raft before I saw the island. When I reached it… I knew that I was going to have to live for both of us. And in those five years, it was that, one thought that kept me going."

"Your honor," My family's attorney stood up, "we move to vitiate the death-in-absentia filed after Oliver's disappearance at sea aboard the Queen's Gambit, five years ago. Unfortunately, we will not be requesting that the declaration of death filed for the petitioner's father, Robert Queen, be rescinded. The Queen family is only entitled to one miracle, I'm afraid."

I glanced back at my mother while our attorney was talking. I knew that she was disappointed that my father didn't return with me, but I think she's doing okay. She has Walter now.

With our petition granted and my official, on paper, resurrection complete, we left the courtroom descending the stairs into the main lobby. Mom and Walter walked down in front of Tommy and me.

"Now, onto the offices." Mom looked at me over her shoulder, then quickly back to her feet as we were still descending the stairs. "Everyone is waiting to meet you there."

"Uh, mom, that was," I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned towards me, stopping on the stair way, "a little bit heavier than I was expecting it to be. Can we do that tomorrow? Please?"

Deep lines plagued my mother's forehead and she turned to look briefly at Walter, then back at me. "Of course."

"Thank you." I replied. Tommy was staring a hole into me. I knew there was something on his mind.

"Last week, you couldn't wait to get to the company." He said as we continued down the stairs. I was getting tired of having to explain myself to him.

"Tommy, I'd just spent five years away from civilization. I wasn't exactly thinking straight." We stepped down into the courthouse lobby. I have to get back to the basement, to Tristen, and this was just more time being wasted.

I stopped dead in my tracks before I could round the corner towards the exit, Laurel. "I…uh…Hi." She caught me off guard. "Hi." I stopped and nodded.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Oh, I, uh… they were bringing me back from the dead legally speaking." I looked into her eyes. I could see the pain on her face every time she looked at me. I was the constant reminder that her sister was dead and I was the constant reminder of what I did to her with her sister. "What are you doing here?"

"My job." She answered quickly, without taking her eyes away from mine.

"Right." I nodded and forced a smile.

"More like the DA's." A woman said from just behind her.

An awkward silence weighed down all the air in the room. I stuck my hand out to the blonde girl at Laurel's right and introduced myself, "Hi, Oliver Queen."

She shook my hand politely and returned my greeting, "Uh, Emily Nocenti."

Laurel turned her head to talk to Emily over her shoulder, "Oliver just got back from five years on an uncharted island." Apparently she thought that I needed more of an introduction than just my name and all the gossip that the rumor mill was churning out lately. "Before that, he was cheating on me with my sister." Her stare burned into me like a crucifixion, "He was with her when she died, and last week he told me to stay away from him. It was really good advice."

She's just hurt. I know that. I'd be a complete idiot if I didn't know that and acknowledge it and move on from it. Tristen…I have to get back.

"Excuse me." Laurel pushed past me and Tommy to get to the stairs. I stepped out of her way and gladly let her go.

"It was nice to meet you," Emily said politely as she passed me to follow Laurel.

"Come on, buddy. Shake it off!" Tommy patted my back. "Let's go."

As we started down the front steps of the courthouse, Martin Somers was holding an improvised press conference about half way up. I stopped to listen. He's on my father's list. He'll be next.

The attention of the press on him was short lived and when they saw me, it was open season again. I continued down the stairs to the car met by Diggle, who attempted crowd control. Reporters; they're parasites. John opened the back door to the car and closed it behind me as I got in. As he was pushing against a man with a camera to get around the car to the driver's side, I seized the opportunity. I crawled over the seat and into the driver's position. I had to get back to Tristen. Hopefully, she would be awake now and I could get some answers. I was prepared to get answers by any means necessary.

I was cautious as I approached the factory door. I was listening intently to every sound my ears could possibly take in. If she was awake and managed to get loose somehow, she'd be looking to take my head off.

I stepped down into the basement and saw her sitting there, right where I left her. She was awake and looked like absolute hell. Part of me felt guilty. I felt as though I had clipped the wings of a snow white dove and she would never fly again.

"Have you had time to decide if you want to talk or not?" I asked as I shed my sports coat and tossed it on the table. I sat on the rolling stool, rested my elbows on my knees where I was eye level with her and waited.

She shook her head disapprovingly, "I'm hurt." She frowned. "No, "Hi, Tristen. How was your day Tristen?" Just right down to business then?" She raised a sadistic brow and I could see that something had changed. Her biting sarcasm was fully intact, but her… whatever it is that makes her, her… is fading away.

"Yes." I nodded, trying to stay the course without feeling emotional over her again. "Down to business."

"If, I talk to you…" She groaned and sat up straighter. "Are you going to let me go?"

"I'll consider it." I replied plainly. "It really depends."

"On what?" She pushed her eyebrows together, looking disappointed.

"Are you a threat to me?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"You know I am." She growled through gritted teeth. But, it was more like a factual statement rather than her intention.

"Look Tristen," I sighed heavily. "I have things that I need to do and I can't do them with you lurking around in the shadows everywhere I go like a lovesick puppy."

"Seriously?" She threw her head back and laughed out loud. "A lovesick puppy? Jesus, you're worse than I thought."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I scowled. I do okay. I can hold my own. She wants me. I can see it on her face every time she looks at me… like I'm an expensive crème brule that she can't wait to sink her teeth into.

"Forget it playboy. Neither of us have the time for any pscho-babbble, blah blah blah, analysis." She rolled her eyes. "I just want the fastest route out of here. What is it that you need me to say?"

"The truth." I shrugged. "Who are you and why are you following me?"

"Fine," she closed her eyes for a moment then looked straight into my eyes. "My name is Tristen Hannaway. You won't find me in any database, anywhere, no matter how hard you try. I don't exist." She swallowed hard. "I'm twenty-two, give or take half a century. I don't know why I followed you here. I really don't. I was at the club looking for someone, someone that I hadn't had a lead on in three months and you… you distracted me." Her face was warped with rage. "I don't do distractions."

I took in every detail of her face and body language while she was talking. Based on the intensive crash course I got from Sergei, the best interrogator in the Bratva Brotherhood, she was telling the truth. I was trying to wrap my head around what she was saying though. Twenty-two, I believe. Her soft features, smooth skin, shiny hair, sparkling gray eyes and rockin' body definitely indicated twenty-two. Give or take half a century? What the hell does that mean?

"What do you mean you don't exist?" I asked.

"Anyone that was ever a part of my life was at my funeral." She said softly. "I watched them one by one stand up to say a few good words before they lowered the empty coffin six feet down and threw some dirt on it." She sighed heavily. "I don't know how else to say it, but that's the truth."

"I want to believe you." I shook my head never taking my eyes off of her. "I really do."

"But you don't." She let her head fall back against the steel beam and looked at the ceiling. "You might as well kill me, then. I'll be dead soon anyway with all the blood I've lost." Her voice was cracking and I would have never believed it if I wasn't seeing it with my very own eyes. Tears streamed down both sides of her face and down her neck, leaving a trail of clean pale skin as they washed away the dirt and blood.

"Fine." I gathered all the strength I could muster to fight the instinct in me that was screaming, not to let her go. I kicked the stool back as I stood and looked down at her surprised expression. "When I take the cuffs off, you have to leave, immediately." My voice was stern and I had to make her understand that I meant it. I took a step closer and bent down towards her cuffs with the key I'd pulled from my pocket.

"No!" She screamed, eyes wide and pressing herself into the beam to get away from me. "You can't be here when the cuffs come off!"

"What?" I scowled at her, stepping back. "What do you mean?"

"I _will_ kill you if you are here when I get free." She looked deep into my eyes and I felt as though she was seeing me from the inside out. "I mean it." She pleaded this time. "Please. I really don't want to kill you, but I will and you have to know that's the truth." The tears were flowing freely from her eyes again.

I paced back and forth in short, quick steps, only occasionally looking at her from the corner of my eye. She was still crying. Really crying. God, seeing her cry was like a hot knife thrust into my chest, twisted, pulled out, thrust in again and twisted on repeat.

"Don't come back here." I finally said as I stopped in front of the stairwell. I tossed the key to the cuffs towards her. It hit her knee and clinked to the floor.

She looked up at me in disbelief before finally saying very softly, almost in a whisper, "I won't."

I sighed heavily. I was being torn into two pieces. One piece said, don't trust her, this will only end badly, go ahead and kill her now and move on with the mission. But the other piece said, trust her. Let her go and don't ask her to leave. As badly as I hated to admit it, there was something about her that was drawing me to her. There was something about her that demanded my undivided attention and love and … protection. I wanted to protect her. I wanted to take her in my arms and hold her body close to mine. I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted her to stay and never leave.

I gave her one last look, hoping that I would remember those amazing eyes for the rest of my life, before turning and taking the stairs up to the factory floor. I didn't stop. If I did, I would go back and I believed her when she said she would kill me. I got in the car and drove away, back toward the Queen mansion, where I knew I couldn't leave again to go back for her.


End file.
